HEALING FACTOR
Chapter 1
When SG-1 arrived on P3X-715, it appeared deserted. The bio sensor picked up a faint reading, but Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter assumed it was the birds hovering in the trees above them, and the others agreed that was most likely the cause. Still, for such a tiny planet (about the size of Ohio), it seemed to hold a good deal in the way of cultural interest, despite being abandoned, and Doctor Daniel Jackson felt a thorough study of the area just beyond the gate, which must have at one time been the thriving heart of P3X-715, was in order. "I'm guessing these people were reasonably advanced." he began after a time. "This larger building..." he gestured toward a courthouse like structure about twenty feet away from and to the left of the Stargate as they came through. "was obviously some sort of Town Hall. Though I can't seem to find any records or books." He paused a moment. "You know, I'm beginning to think this planet wasn't abandoned". 'There does not appear to have been a struggle, Daniel Jackson" remarked Teal'c. Daniel looked thoughtful. "yes... but there's no real record of why these people left either. I think whoever did this simply knew what they were doing." Do you think it could've been the Goa'uld?" Asked Sam. "Well, they aren't usually known for not leaving a mark. This place should be overrun with Jaffa." Not necessarily" Sam said. "This planet is so small. The Goa'uld may not have thought it was significant enough to occupy. If there was some sort of resistance, it hardly would have been difficult for them to transport every one of the planet's residents away from here." "and destroy all possible record of there having been an outcry against them" Daniel concluded. They all agreed that, although this particular situation had never come up before, it certainly mad sense. Having learned all they could about the area, the three adventurers started back toward the Stargate. Daniel was furious inside as he walked past Sam dialing home. The Goa'uld had prevented them from attaining what could have been a powerful new ally. Who could say what Earth may have learned from the people of this planet? No one now. He was thinking this as he walked up to the stargate, just behind Teal'c and Sam, when suddenly, he heard a rustle. A big rustle. This was no bird. "Wait" he said. Teal'c and Sam froze, just short of stepping through the wormhole. "I heard rustling. Over there." He pointed exactly to the right of the Stargate, opposite the Town Hall, where a particularly thick bunch of trees grew. Teal'c and Sam waited while he went to investigate whatever it was he'd heard. His first though was that it might be a person. A person! Someone he could learn from, perhaps get a better idea of what happened here. "Excuse me. Hello?" He said into the trees. "We're not going to hurt you. We're peaceful explorers. My name's Daniel. I don't know if you can see them but that's" he pointed to Sam and Teal'c "Colonol Carter and Teal'c" There was a faint rustle, then, slowly, cautiously, a woman of about twenty eight, eased her way out of the batch of trees and in front of Daniel (It was a person!) She was around five feet tall, with a cherubic face, long, curly brown hair and gray eyes. She wore a white peasant blouse and pants that resembled corduroy. Daniel thought she was incredibly beautiful. "You're not the evil ones?" she asked timidly. "No, no. they're gone. You're safe now" he reassured her. "Oh, thank you!" She collapsed into his arms, and, for the first time in fifteen years, cried.
The woman, it turned out, was named Dala'na, and, SG-1 learned from her that, although P3X-715 (also known as Parafis) was reasonably advanced, it was actually a step or two down from Earth technologically, and did not possess anything which we did not already own in a similar fashion. Well, thought Daniel, now I feel much better about the planet being wiped out. Jack's sarcasm, quite porose, had by now permeated the innermost portions of Daniel's conscience, and, very likely, his subconscious. Dala'na, in the meantime, had also pretty much completely reaffirmed SG-1's theories about what happened to the other occupants of Parafis. The people had, through intelligent observation, come to realise the Goa'uld were far from godly, and planned to overtake the system lord who brought them to Parafis, a plan, which, although obviously futile, was well thought out, and had been in the works for months (scores of scenario blueprints were kept in the Town Hall). Unfortunately, word of the coup was somehow received by the Goa'uld, but then, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. One thing the Parafs didn't count on, was how very powerful a non god can be. It took less than a week before the entire planet had been abducted, and either killed, or made into hosts, all but one. A thirteen year old girl who fled to a small, underground fort she'd created for fun. Little did she realise her very survival would one day depend on it. She stayed underground for days, feelings utterly helpless as everyone she cared about, her friends, her father, were taken from her. When she no longer heard anything, she carefully ventured to the surface, and found everyone gone. At first, she despaired, not even wanting to eat, despite her by now, painful hunger, but, bravely, she resolved herself, and managed to begin more or less, living again. There were shops and water houses where she could acquire new clothes and provisions when need be, and wash up. There was plenty of food in town, and when that was gone, or spoiled, she could live off the edible plants in the forest, and there was no shortage of drinking fountains. She thought about going back home, but the memories were too painful, and besides, by this time she had grown rather fond of her little underground apartment. So she lived out the days there, Singing to herself to keep from forgetting the sound of the human voice, and she thought about and for the first few years, she'd honestly believed that someone else might actually still be there, and come for her, but no one did. Not for fifteen years. Dala'na had been picking berries when she'd heard the wormhole established. The only thing she was personally aware of ever going through there were the Goa'uld, and she was not about to let them do to her what they did to everyone else, so she began to rush back to her shelter, but something stopped her. Something told her to just wait. So, cautiously, she watched the three tread around the veritable ghost town she'd once laughed along the streets of with her friends, and she kept ever so silent. Not knowing who these people were, if, perhaps, they were not the monsters who took everyone she cared about away from her, but new friends. People who could help her. They didn't act like the evil ones, and they certainly didn't sound like them, but as she watched them walk back up to the stargate, about to leave forever, she could not bring herself to go to them, which was fate's cue to step in and cause her to, while peering out through the trees, slip backwards and scrape her knee against a branch. Which is what Daniel heard, which is how she ended up in the SGC infirmary being treated for a scratched up knee.
Later, as she sat in a chair in the VIP room, her right knee covered by an adhesive bandage, she thought about how she came to be here. How, if she had not slipped, she would still be back on Parafis, lonely. She looked fondly at her bandaged knee, then winced. She wouldn't have taken that slip back in a million years, but the pain she could do without. A couple seconds after thinking this, she heard a knock, or more appropriately, she heard knocks. Three, short but solid, and rather rhythmic. "Come in" she called. It was Daniel "Hi!" he said cheerfully, smiling. "Just wanted to see how you're doing." She looked even more beautiful now, when her face wasn't obscured by branches. "Fine, thank you" she smiled. "My knee is just a bit sore". She was now, really, seeing Daniel for the first time. When she'd been rescued, her mind was so clouded she could barely see straight. The fact that she could even talk then was a testament to how badly she wanted help, but seeing him now, as she was feeling much more calm, she found him quite handsome."Want me to kiss it and make it better?" He teased, grinning. An extremely bold flirting maneuver for Daniel! Dala'na blushed and smiled sweetly. "It might help, actually..." Daniel crossed over to her, kneeled down, put his hand on her knee, and kissed her knee, just above the bandage. "Much better" she said softly. He looked into her eyes, she into his, and in the next instant, their eyes were closed, their lips had met, and they were, it seemed, the only two souls on Earth, drifting blissfully across this cloud of passion.
"Fifteen years!" Sam was saying to Jack between bites of a chicken sandwich. "I can't even imagine what that would be like." Brigadier General Jack O'Neill, who had already consumed his slice of chocolate cake with spaghetti and meatballs on the side, usually didn't have time to eat in the commissary. He'd take a quick lunch in his office between having to deal with the various goings on of Stargate Command, but as luck would have it, aside from the situation with Dala'na, this was an unusually chaos free day. So, he found himself listening to Carter ramble on about people living alone for years. At least she wasn't talking science. Still, he'd never admit it to anyone, let alone to himself, but he found it rather charming the way she babbled so methodically at times, even if he could barely follow her. "Of course, Professor Littlefield was alone for over fifty years, but Dala'na was only thirteen. So, which is worse, being trapped alone on an alien planet starting from when you're an adult, or being trapped on your own planet starting from when you're a kid, after everyone you know is gone?" "Ah, yes" said, Jack, in his signature semi bored style "the burning question of the ages." Sam grinned. The general really was very cute, in a totally off limits, superior officer sort of way. She was awfully glad Pete had come along. "Well," Jack finished, getting up from his seat "I'm gonna go set things up for the briefing. You go ahead and finish your sandwich." "Meet you up there in a minute, sir" she told him, and with that Jack turned around, walked out the door and headed for the Briefing Room.
Daniel awoke to see the woman he'd only a few hours ago shared the most intimate of moments with, still nestled contentedly against him, still sleeping soundly. He smiled. Something wonderful was happening. he had not known Dala'na even a day, but he knew, this was no trickery. However, he did need to get back to the main hub. SG-1 was scheduled to go off world again in a bit, and he had a briefing to attend. So, reluctantly, he gently eased out from under Dala'na's comforting grasp, got everything together, gave her a soft kiss on the forehead, and left the VIP room.
"P2J-446" Jack was saying "contains a lot of un-mined naquada. This, kids, is your mission." Sam followed up: "The planet is about one quarter naquada. We need to get in there and find out whether there's anyone living near that area, if not, we'll set up a mining operation" That was pretty much all there was to the briefing, a little more was said about what might be expected, and they were off to the gate room.
"Dialing sequence has been activated" began Sergeant Walter Harriman, the trusty gate dialer. "Chevron One encoded" and so on, until.... "Chevron Seven is locked." The wormhole was established, then SG-1 stepped through into an unexplored planet. Presently, SG-1's IDC was received, and the iris was opened. Sam and Daniel came through carrying Teal'c. "We need a medical team over here!" yelled Sam. Teal'c was badly wounded. "What the hell happened?!" Jack was horrified. "The people on P2J-446 are extremely hostile toward Jaffa" Sam told him. They attacked before anyone could react. Their weapons do an incredible amount of damage." "INFIRMARY!" Jack barked at the medics. Sam, Daniel and Jack followed quickly behind. Teal'c was not doing well.
Chapter 2
Dala'na awoke to find Daniel gone. She was disappointed, but remembered he'd mentioned having to go off world when she was discussing what happened on her planet. Dala'na had never been with anyone, yet she'd felt so comfortable with Daniel, so at home, What do you know of love? She scolded herself, but couldn't help feeling there was really something to this.
Her thoughts were interupted by an announcement: "All available medical personel, report to the infirmary immediately!" Dala'na didn't know what was wrong, but she did know that whoever was in trouble, she might ne able to save them. She pulled on her blouse and pants and rushed out the door. Luckilly, her memory was good, so she had no trouble locating the infirmary. There she found Teal'c, surrounded by medics, all trying vainly to pull him through, with Daniel, Sam, and Jack watching helplessly from the side.
She was not an assertive person, but desperative times call for desperate measures. "clear the way!" she called out "Please. I can help him." The doctor looked at her. They didn't exactly have any better ideas. So, she gave Dala'na the go ahead, and had everyone else move out of the way. "I need some water" Dala'na said. A nurse grabbed a canister, filled it up and handed it to her. Dala'na, then, first wet her hands completely, and after, with a bit of effort, and to the hesitance of the doctor, pulled Teal'c up slightly, and hugged him, being sure her hands touched his skin. rather quickly, the wounds seemed to mend themselves, his complexion returned, and he became conscious. He began to sit up on his own and Dala'na helped him.
Well, that's what I have so far. I'll post more when I can.
Getting - Better
